VOTT Value?

[ClassicComics]

Anyone know what the "street" price of a pair of Voice of the Theater speakers is? I am still trying to get a single one for my center channel, and thinking about buying the parts and assembling one or two, but I don't want to pay more for the parts than I can buy a finished product for.... any thoughts would be appreciated....

Thanks!

[Cal Weldon]

You'll have to tell us which one. VOTT was a whole series of speakers.

[GM]

Well, all I know is that in 1975 an A7-500 pallet of parts was $430 + tax locally and according to this inflation calculator it would be ~$1312 + tax today.

GM

[LICORNE]

GM

Well, all I know is that in 1975 an A7-500 pallet of parts was $430 + tax locally and according to this inflation calculator it would be ~$1312 + tax today.
GM

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">You're way off GM. If you look carefully the A-7 500 in 1975 CABINET ONLY sold for 530.00 $
Then you go to the next page for components less cabinet as stated: 336..30 $

With this Inflation calculator in 2007 dollars.

What cost $866.30 in 1975 would cost $3604.82 in 2007. So Altec Lansing Pro are off by about 2000$ over
price.

USE THIS INFLATION CALCULATOR BELOW
http://www.westegg.com/inflation/

..............................

<font color="#FFFFFF" size="1">[ June 27, 2008 05:37 PM: Message edited by: CONVERGENCE ]</font>

[gamalot]

No offence ClassicComics but it is a pretty funny question.
Those of us who have been here for a while get a good chuckle from it.

VOTT stands for Voice of the Theater and as mentioned, could be one of many completely different speakers or a conglomeration of them all.

I purely basic terms a VOTT would have an Altec woofer, horn and HF driver coupled by an XO.
I have never yet heard an accurate description nor have I ever agreed with what I have heard refered to as VOTTs.

I feel safe in saying if you get an altec 416, 515 or 604 woofer and an Altec horn and driver then you probably will have some sort of VOTT.

If you can find an A7 with all of it's original components then you are there.

Most often, complete speakers sell for less then what the individual parts will cost you. Single speakers and single parts usually go for less then pairs.

There simply is no answer to your question the way you asked it.

We have all seen a nice pair of empty cabinets sell for more then a nice pair of loaded ones of the exact same model.

I would love to say if you can find a nice set of A7-500s in decent and working condition for under a grand that you are doing OK. Just about then someone will chime in saying they found a gorgeous pair at the local thrift for $5 bucks.
But wait, that pair will be on ebay tomorrow with a starting bid of $1299.

One thing is for sure, the shipping company will make more then most of the sellers unless you can find what you want locally.

Gary

[bowtie427ss]

You're way off GM. If you look carefully the A-7 500 in 1975 CABINET ONLY sold for 530.00 $
Then you go to the next page for components less cabinet as stated: 336..30 $

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Actually he's spot on.

If you read carefully, it quite clearly specifies "voice of the theater SYSTEM".

Look further and you'll see the difference in price between the A7-8 system and the A7-500 system is 31 dollars, precisely the difference between the 511 and 811 horns.

828B "cabinet only" sold for $204 according to the same catalog.

Just my .02 y'all understand................

EDIT: Correction, i mistakenly used the price of 511A for comparison. 511A was supplied with a mounting bracket and cost significantly more than 511B. My WAG is that the 31 dollar price difference probably reflected the difference between 802 and 806 drivers as well, assuming the A7-8 used the 806-8A on 811, and the A7-500 used the 802 on 511.

FWIW i'm not picking nits with Convergence, i'm just somewhat familiar with the system prices from that time period and catalog as i own examples of several of them.

<font color="#FFFFFF" size="1">[ June 27, 2008 06:22 PM: Message edited by: bowtie427ss ]</font>

[bfish]

Street price for used A7s I've watched over the last few years ranged from around $600/pr upwards to nearly $2K. The last pair on eBay in Chicago brought a little over $1300. You ought to be able to build a nice new pair with used horns and new drivers for under $2K, less labor.

If you have a boat and a bit of free time, you might find a stray or two bobbing down the Big Muddy about now, maybe even a house to put 'em in. Or you could wait a month or two for them to pop up on eBay...

[GM]

Originally posted by CONVERGENCE:

You're way off GM.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">No, I'm not. I don't have nor know what a price sheet says, but I do know that CMC Stereo sold complete, unassembled A7-500s with all components in their standard shipping boxes stacked and banded to a pallet along with the cab for $430 and for an additional $25 they would have it delivered to my home, but they were right up the street from me and I had a pickup truck, so would just pick them up on the way home.

GM

[LICORNE]

The Montreal Vendor at the time was Radio Service.
The price list of the 1975 catalogue is correct.

I did not do the actual purchases at the time but remember looking at those prices. The 604-8G's that I purchased is smack on.

US vendors had some pretty good deals then. How they did it is beyond me.

The utility A-7 cabinet at 500 $ in 1975 is right on.Then add the components and it makes more sense.


....................

[Russnohio]

There are so many variations of the VOTT that ones head could spin!
To complicate it further is the fact that there are lots of them floating around out there which were custom built or tweaked for a specific purpose in any given cinema house. Many "garage bands" have used them for PA and who knows how many of those have been altered & tampered with.

I'd say VOTT prices fair or other wise are all over the map depending on condition, originality...componets, etc,etc.

Russ